The Day Dr Chris Lectured Stephen Harper

He's been slowly killing medicare in his usual creepy stealthy way. Nibble nibble, gnaw, gnaw.

Killing it with neglect, and preparing to bleed it dry. 

So most of it can be privatized, just like the Cons in Britain are doing to that country's National Health Service. The magnificent system that inspired our own.

And most dangerously of all he has done absolutely nothing to help prepare our health system for the increasing influx of aging baby boomers.

And is setting the stage for an absolute nightmare of unnecessary human suffering.

So I'm really glad to see that the new president of the Canadian Medical Association is finally taking aim at Stephen Harper's criminally irresponsible inaction. 

The new leader of the Canadian Medical Association is calling out the government of Stephen Harper for its inaction on health care, saying the medicare system is floundering and Canadians are “tired of excuses as to why the federal government can’t take action.” 

Dr. Chris Simpson said some “brave leadership” is required to fundamentally reshape the health system to reflect the changing needs of an aging population, and it should come from Ottawa.

Ottawa should not usurp provincial responsibilities, he said, but it still has a role as a co-ordinator and unifier and “federal leadership has never been needed more than it is today.”

And I've got to say from what I'm seeing and hearing, I really like this Dr. Chris...



Because I hear he's a good doctor, a kind man, a big supporter of patient's rights, and he's telling it like it is, like it should have been said long ago. 

He sounds like a guy who won't take any excuses or any shit from Harper and his reactionary Con regime.

And he's definitely got the right idea:

Simpson said Canada’s seniors – especially those with multiple chronic conditions – lack proper primary care and end up in overcrowded emergency rooms and hospitals by default, and at great expense. “We put people in beds instead of putting them in a care environment that lifts them up and restores them and helps them live a dignified life,” he said.

Because I've seen that nightmare coming at us like an express train for a long time, and I can't imagine anything worse than living in a country that would condemn so many of its seniors to misery...



Or indignity. Or a fate worse than death. 

But of course what Dr Chris couldn't say, was that Stephen Harper has always been a stealthy enemy of medicare, from the moment he came to power with the backing of an organization, the National Citizens Coalition, that was founded for the purpose of destroying it.

An organization he headed for years, before he entered politics...



So he will NEVER reform a system he considers socialism.

And symbolizes the kinder, gentler Canadian values he hates so much... 



He doesn't want to improve medicare, he wants it to FAIL so it can be privatized.

Because for him, like the Cons in Britain who are savaging and privatizing the proud NHS, even though it's consistently ranked as the best in the world.



Ideology comes before people, every single time.

But we know that right? We should know that by now. We can't sleepwalk to disaster forever

So the prognosis is really simple:

If we want to give Dr Chris, and those who support him, a chance to reform and improve our system, prepare it for the future, and make it even better.

First we have to cure this foul Con disease...



Which isn't just threatening our health care system. It's killing our country.

The need couldn't be more urgent.

It can't happen soon enough...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.